State regulators handed most – and biggest – fines to Dallas-area hospitals in 2013

Dallas-area hospitals drew the most fines from Texas state health enforcers last year. The most frequent bullseye: Parkland Memorial Hospital.

The taxpayer-funded institution paid three of the 12 fines levied statewide, totaling $20,000. Parkland was cited for deficiencies in nursing, patient care assessments, and for failing to pay a previous penalty, among other issues.

The fines aren’t necessarily a reliable snapshot of a hospital’s recent performance. The Texas Department of State Health Services often takes months – sometimes more than a year – to bring such penalties.

Parkland’s sanctions, for example, stemmed from problems flagged in 2012, when it was struggling to remedy massive care breakdowns under federal supervision. (Our “Chronic Condition” series examines the roots of those problems.) In 2013, the hospital passed that test – satisfying nearly 500 corrective mandates at a cost that approached $100 million.

Still, penalties against hospitals are rare under a regulatory system that prefers to nudge facilities into corrective action instead of meting out punishment. And fines that follow extensive review periods can indicate the state isn’t satisfied with hospitals’ efforts at fixing problems. “We’re reviewing the case along the way to determine whether we need to propose a penalty,” said Carrie Williams, a spokeswoman for the state health department.

In 2012, Parkland was hit with the largest fine ever levied against a Texas hospital, at $1 million, for “egregious deficiencies” including unsafe staffing levels and systemic infection-control breakdowns. The biggest previous fine occurred in 2007, when Houston’s public hospital, Ben Taub, paid $50,000 for mistreatment of mental health patients

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